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Child abuse reports are down, but abuse is likely up during stay at home orders

According to most recent CDC statistics, an estimated 1 in 4 children in America experience maltreatment at some point in their lives. Here is what to do if you suspect child abuse and how to report it.

When state Superintendent Eric Mackey announced Alabama's schools would stay closed through the end of the year due to the coronavirus pandemic, Jannah Bailey and her Child Protect staff immediately realized the danger this would put some children in.

As unemployment numbers rise, paired with the fear of illness, communities around the country are being weighed down by unprecedented levels of stress and anxiety.

Meanwhile, children are stuck at home, isolated away from adults with the training and experience to recognize signs of abuse, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists social isolation and unemployment as primary risk factors that lead to child abuse and domestic violence.

"School is a safe place for so many of our children. That’s where they go and feel safe, where they feel like someone cares about them and they really don’t have that safety net now," said Bailey, director of Child Protect and District 5's Montgomery Board of Education member.

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Jannah Bailey, candidate for District 5 Board of Education, poses for a portrait at Faulkner University in Montgomery, Ala., on Monday, Oct. 1, 2018.(Photo: Jake Crandall/ Advertiser)

Bailey said the nonprofit experiences a drop in child abuse reports during each school break, because teachers are the No. 1 reporters.

Aside from being mandated to report, "They are the ones with children nine months of the year and most of the waking hours of the day so they are more inclined to notice behavior changes or marks on children and children are more inclined to trust their teachers," Bailey said.

This unscheduled break has already experienced a decline in reports throughout the state.

In the first three weeks since the coronavirus pandemic began shutting down the state, only three interviews have been done.

Child Protect created fliers for the lunches of MPS students during the coronavirus pandemic.(Photo: Contributed)

The Department of Human Resources, serving the entire state, sees a 20-25% drop in reports during the summer months each year. In March, reports across Alabama dropped by about 15% compared to March 2019.

That rate, Commissioner Nancy Buckner said, is expected to grow in April because students were still in school for about two weeks in March.

Child Protect created print outs to put in the lunch bags picked up by Montgomery Public School students while school is out, urging both children and parents to call if they need someone to talk to.

"We’re going to try and reach as many children as we can ... because we don’t know what else to do. We just want to make sure the kids are safe," Bailey said.

More than the issue of less reporting though, abuse will likely go up, Bailey and Buckner said.

"We usually see a decrease when kids are out on spring break or Christmas break or summer and we see a spike when they go back," Bailey said. "This is different though, because this makes the kids more isolated and they are in more stressful situations."

Demolition of the building next door to Child Protect paves the way for its new Rian Rider Annex expansion.(Photo: Andrew Yawn)

Rates of child abuse went up during the Great Recession, but children were still in school. Aside from now having children home full time, parents are expected to provide their education, uncharted territory for many.

When students return and the spike in reports begins, Bailey said she is worried there won't be enough resources to serve all of the children impacted.

"We know we are going to need to add more counselors to our staff when this is all over to address those mental health issues that are going to come with these children and then we will have to find the money for that," she said.

But, "we will not be able to deal with it," she said.

About 60% of students in MPS are considered economically disadvantaged — with poverty being another risk factor for child abuse — and the district receives the lowest state-allowed level of local funding, resulting in a lack of school counselors and social workers.

"We're not going to have the services available when we get back to normal. ... We don’t have it now. We don’t have counselors in school to identify a child that has been through some kind of traumatic event. We just don’t have it because we cannot afford it."